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Comet

McNaught

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338P/McNaught

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.767 AU
True anomaly
141.05°
Distance from Earth
5.428 AU
As of
22 October 2026

Two-body Kepler propagation — accurate to ~0.1% for major planets over decades, less so for highly-perturbed bodies. Use JPL Horizons for high precision.

Orbit of Mercury Orbit of Venus Orbit of Mars Sun Earth — 0.995 AU from the Sun Earth McNaught — 4.767 AU from the Sun McNaught
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. McNaught is 5.428 AU from Earth today (45.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
11h 30m 16s
Declination
+16° 35′ 26″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
5.42 AU
Elongation from the Sun
44.7° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

From your location

See how high it is right now, whether it is up after civil twilight, and when it rises and sets where you are.

How do I find my coordinates?

Google Maps on a computer

  1. Right-click the spot where you'll be observing.
  2. The first line of the menu is the coordinates, e.g. 51.50722, -0.12758 — click it and they're copied.
  3. Paste them above.

Google Maps on a phone

  1. Press and hold the spot to drop a pin.
  2. The coordinates appear in the search bar (or on the pin's card) — tap to copy, then paste above.

A full Google Maps link works too, but the short maps.app.goo.gl share links don't carry coordinates — copy the numbers instead. We round to about a kilometre; that's all the sky calculation needs.

Know your what3words address? Paste it, e.g. ///filled.count.soap. This is optional — the three words are sent to what3words to convert them, and we don't store the address or the result.

Your location stays in your browser and is sent only for this calculation. Using a what3words address is optional; if you do, the three words go to what3words to be converted and we don't record them. Set a location first, then you can save an email alert for this object. See our privacy policy.

Two-body approximation, good to about a degree for the planets — enough to find the constellation and know whether it is up.

Orbital elements

Semi-major axis
3.903 AU
Eccentricity
0.4103
Inclination
25.35°
Orbital period
7.71 years
Perihelion
2.301 AU
Aphelion
5.504 AU
Longitude of ascending node
9.81°
Argument of periapsis
4.51°
Epoch · J2000
2458163.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 506.2 LD
1.3008 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.761

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
882
Data arc
16.7 years
First observed
10 May 2008
Last observed
22 January 2025
Residual RMS
0.92 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
13 February 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
15.5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
15.5

Discovery & classification

Also known as 338P · 338P/2008 J3 · 338P/2016 N1

Named

Close approaches 11 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2029-01-07 10:13:00 Juptr 1.2749 AU 496.2 LD 6.7 km/s
2088-01-04 04:42:00 Juptr 0.1632 AU 63.5 LD 6.4 km/s
2088-01-04 04:42:00 Jupiter 0.1632 AU 63.5 LD 6.4 km/s
2097-10-30 14:29:00 Mars 0.0716 AU 27.9 LD 10.7 km/s
2099-10-04 06:21:00 Juptr 1.8147 AU 706.2 LD 10 km/s
2147-09-12 05:57:00 Juptr 0.9697 AU 377.4 LD 6.8 km/s
2158-12-13 07:06:00 Juptr 0.1383 AU 53.8 LD 6.9 km/s
2158-12-13 07:06:00 Jupiter 0.1383 AU 53.8 LD 6.9 km/s

Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.

Sources